Numbers
PowerShell offers several options for interacting with numbers and numeric data.
Simple Assignment
To define a variable that holds numeric data, simply assign it as you would other variables. PowerShell automatically stores your data in a format that is sufficient to accurately hold it.
$myInt = 10
$myInt
gets the value of 10,
as a (32-bit) integer.
$myDouble = 3.14
$myDouble
gets the value of
3.14, as a (53-bit, 9 bits of precision) double.
$To explicitly assign a number as a long (64-bit) integer or decimal (96-bit, 96 bits of precision), use the long and decimal suffixes:
myLong = 0.999L
$myLong
gets the value of 1,
as a long integer.
$myDecimal = 0.999D
$myDecimal
gets the value of
0.999.
PowerShell also supports scientific notation:
$myPi = 3141592653e-9
$myPi
gets
3.141592653.
The datatypes in PowerShell (integer, long integer, double, and decimal) are built upon the .NET datatypes of the same name.
Administrative Numeric Constants
Since computer administrators rarely get the chance to work with
numbers in even powers of ten, PowerShell offers the numeric constants
of gb
, mb
, and kb
to represent gigabytes, megabytes, and
kilobytes, respectively:
$downloadTime = (1gb + 250mb) / 120kb
Hexadecimal and Other Number Bases
To directly enter a hexadecimal number, use the hexadecimal
prefix 0x
:
$myErrorCode = 0xFE4A
$myErrorCode
gets the integer
value 65098.
The PowerShell scripting language does not natively support other number bases, but its support for interaction with the .NET framework enables ...
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